Ai Weiwei to Create a 1,000-Tent Installation for the Emscherkunst Triennial Art Festival

Artist Ai Weiwei is still unable to leave China, but that hasn't stopped him from being able to connect with his fans all over the world and create art for international exhibitions. He just announced a new piece for the Emscherkunst Triennial art festival (taking place in the Ruhr region of Western Germany from June 22 to October 6), titled Aus der Aufklärung (Out of enlightenment), which will consist of 1,000 tents installed along the Emscher river. The installation resembles Weiwei’s Fairytale People project at 2007's Documenta 12, where he brought 1,001 people to the town of Kassel, in addition to installing 1,001 historic Chinese chairs.

This news comes on the heels of the announcement that Ai Weiwei will release a heavy metal album and participate in this year's Venice Biennale. We are grateful that being stuck in China hasn't prevented him from making art and remaining influential.